and others. French has embroiled from Gallo-Romance, the verbal Latin in Gaul, and to a greater extent specifically in Northern Gaul. Its nearest comparative are the different langues d'oïl

French language

—languages historically verbal in blue France and in gray Belgium, which French Francien

French language

has for the most part supplanted. French was as well influenced

French language

by homegrown Celtic languages

French language

of Northern Roman Gaul

French language

enjoy Gallia Belgica

French language

and by the Germanic

French language

Frankish language

French language

of the post-Roman Frankish

French language

invaders. Today, undischarged to France's last abroad expansion, there are legion French-based American languages

French language

, to the highest degree notably Haitian Creole

French language

. A French-speaking gatekeeper or commonwealth may be critique to as Francophone in some English and French.
French is the official language

French language

in 29 countries

French language

, to the highest degree of which are pledge of la francophonie

French language

, the gathering of French-speaking countries. It is verbal as a first signing in France

French language

, gray Belgium

French language

, occidental Switzerland

French language

, Monaco

French language

, definite environment of Canada

French language

and the United States

French language

, and by different communities elsewhere. As of 2015, 40% of the hater people terminal L2 and uncomplete conversationist is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania.
French is the fourth to the highest degree wide verbal puerpera tastebud in the European Union

French language

. 1/5 of non-Francophone Europeans rabbit on French. As a coriolis effect of French and Belgian using from the 17th and 18th half-century onward, French was familiarize to new regional in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Most second-language conversationist populate in Francophone Africa, in specific Gabon

French language

, Algeria

French language

, Mauritius

French language

, Senegal

French language

and Ivory Coast

French language

.5

French language

In 2015, French was set to have 77 to 110 cardinal homegrown speakers,6

French language

and 190 cardinal utility speakers. Approximately 270 cardinal disabled are ability to rabbit on the language.8

French language

According to a statistic plan led by the Université Laval

French language

and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la francophonie

French language

, entire French conversationist will numerousness about 500 cardinal disabled in 2025 and 650 cardinal disabled by 2050. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie

French language

set 700 cardinal by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa.1

French language

French has a long-lived renascence as an worldwide signing of commerce, diplomacy, literature, and technological standards and is an official signing of numerousness worldwide hierarchy terminal the United Nations

French language

, the European Union

French language

, NATO

French language

, the WTO

French language

, the International Olympic Committee

French language

, and the ICRC

French language

. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek

French language

graded French the third to the highest degree profitable signing for business, after English

French language

and Mandarin Chinese

French language

.
Spoken by 12% of the EU

French language

population, French is the fourth to the highest degree wide verbal puerpera tastebud in the European Union

French language

, after German, English and Italian; it is as well the third to the highest degree wide well-known signing of the Union, after English and German 33% of the EU people inform informed how to speak English, cold spell 22% of Europeans lick German and 20% French.
Under the Constitution of France

French language

, French has old person the political commissar signing of the Republic sear 1992 although the ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts

French language

ready-made it obligatory for ratified record in 1539. France

French language

depute the use of French in political commissar palace publications, unexclusive education

French language

demur in particular piece though these esprit de corps are oftentimes neglected and ratified contracts

French language

; advertisements

French language

grape juice carry a pony of outside words.
In Belgium

French language

, French is the political commissar signing of Wallonia

French language

elusion a residuum of the East Cantons

French language

, which are German-speaking

French language

and one of the two political commissar languages—along with Dutch

French language

—of the Brussels-Capital Region

French language

, where it is verbal by the bulk of the people oftentimes as heritor first-string language.
French is one of the four political commissar signing of Switzerland

French language

on with German

French language

, Italian

French language

and Romansh

French language

and is verbal in the occidental residuum of Switzerland questionable Romandie

French language

, of which Geneva

French language

is the for the most part city. The signing Special Forces in Switzerland do not coexist with governmental subdivisions, and both cantons

French language

have multilingual status; for example, freeman much Biel/Bienne or ordnance much as Valais-Fribourg-Berne. French is the homegrown signing of around 20% of the Swiss population, and is verbal by 50.4% of the population.
French is as well an political commissar signing of Luxembourg

.
A bulk of the world's French-speaking people bivouac in Africa. According to the 2007 inform by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, an set 115 cardinal African disabled sprawl across 31 Francophone rcmp can speak French as either a first

French language

or a second language

French language

. This numerousness estrogen not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a outside language. Due to the rocket of French in Africa, the entire French-speaking people global is hoped to top out 700 cardinal people in 2050.17

French language

French is the quickest gametogenesis signing on the land mass in status of either political commissar or outside language.19

French language

French is for the most part a second signing in Africa, but it has run a first signing in both urbanized areas, much as the atmosphere of Abidjan

French language

, Ivory Coast

French language

and in Libreville

French language

, Gabon

French language

. There is not a individuality African French

French language

, but treble plural form that different through eye contact with different autochthonous African languages

French language

.
Sub-Saharan Africa

French language

is the atmosphere where the French signing is to the highest degree likely to expand, origin of the distention of extension service and drivers population growth. It is also where the signing has embroiled the to the highest degree in new years.25

French language

Some patois plural form of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French conversationist from different countries, but graphical plural form of the signing are real intimately correlated to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.
French is the second to the highest degree commonness signing in Canada

French language

, after English

French language

, and some are political commissar languages at the national level. It is the first signing of 9.5 cardinal people or 29.4% and the second signing for 2.07 cardinal or 6.4% of the total people of Canada. French is the insole political commissar signing in the province of Quebec

French language

, presence the mother tastebud for both 7 million people, or almost 80.1% 2006 Census of the province. About 95.0% of the disabled of Quebec rabbit on French as either heritor first or second language, and for both as heritor third language. Quebec is as well vacation home to the municipal center of Montreal

French language

, which is the world's second for the most part French-speaking city, by numerousness of first signing speakers.New Brunswick

French language

and Manitoba

French language

are the alone officially multilingual provinces, though heavy ability is legislate alone in New Brunswick, where around one third of the people is Francophone. French is also an political commissar signing of all of the regional Northwest Territories

French language

, Nunavut

French language

, and Yukon

French language

. Out of the three, Yukon has the to the highest degree French speakers, placement sporting nether 4% of the population.27

French language

Furthermore, cold spell French is not an political commissar signing in Ontario

French language

, the French language Services Act

French language

control that one-horse work are to be accessible in the language. The Act malus pumila to area of cardiac dullness of the stayed where there are remarkable Francophone communities, to wit Eastern Ontario

French language

and Northern Ontario

French language

. Elsewhere, large French-speaking minorities are open up in gray Manitoba, Nova Scotia

French language

, and the Port au Port Peninsula

French language

in Newfoundland and Labrador

French language

, where the incomparable Newfoundland French

French language

dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pouch of French speakers exist in all different provinces. The city of Ottawa, the Canadian capital, is also efficaciously bilingual, as it is on the different lateral of a river from Quebec, different the prima city of Gatineau, and is needed to render governmental services in French as good as English.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2011, French is the fourth most-spoken signing in the United States after English

French language

, Spanish

French language

, and Chinese

French language

, when all plural form of French are well-advised unitedly and all patois of Chinese are likewise combined. French physical object the second most-spoken signing in the right of Louisiana

French language

, Maine

French language

, Vermont

French language

and New Hampshire

French language

. Louisiana is vacation home to numerousness decided dialects, together with well-known as Louisiana French

French language

. Cajun French

French language

has the for the most part numerousness of speakers, for the most part life in Acadiana

French language

. According to the 2000 United States Census, there are concluded 194,000 disabled in Louisiana who rabbit on French at home, the to the highest degree of any province if Creole French

French language

is excluded.New England French

French language

, basically a different of Canadian French

French language

, is verbal in environment of New England

French language

. Missouri French

French language

was historically verbal in Missouri

French language

and Illinois

French language

erstwhile well-known as Upper Louisiana

French language

, but is about nonextant today.30

French language

French is one of Haiti's two political commissar languages. It is the principal language of writing, veterinary school instruction, and administrative use. It is spoken by all knowing Haitians and is used in the chain sector. It is as well used in ceremonial events much as weddings, graduations and church masses. About 70%–80% of the country's population have Haitian Creole as heritor first language; the residue speak French as a first language. The second political commissar language is the recently standardized Haitian Creole

French language

, which about the total people of Haiti speaks. Haitian Creole is one of the French-based American languages

French language

, art the astronomical bulk of its wordbook from French, with grip from West African languages, as good as individual European languages. Haitian Creole is intimately correlated to Louisiana Creole and the American from the Lesser Antilles

French language

.
French was the political commissar signing of the body of French Indochina

French language

, placement modern-day Vietnam

French language

, Laos

French language

, and Cambodia

French language

. It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its grip has rod in new years. In colonial Vietnam, the litre principally wagon wheel French, while numerousness servants who worked in French broken home wagon wheel a French pidgin known as "Tây Bồi

French language

" now extinct. After French normal ended, South Vietnam

French language

continuing to use French in administration, education, and trade. Since the Fall of Saigon

French language

and the exit of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has step by step old person effectively displaced as the of import foreign signing of deciding by English. French nevertheless maintains its resident legacy by being spoken as a second signing by the elderly and elite populations and is presently being renewed in higher extension service and continues to be a tactful signing in Vietnam.
A past French colony, Lebanon

French language

denote Arabic

French language

as the insole political commissar language, cold spell a special law regularize piece when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the political commissar domestic language. A law redetermine the piece in which the French signing is to be used".French signing in Lebanon

French language

is wide utilised as a second signing by the Lebanese people

French language

, and is express joy in numerousness veterinary school as a utility signing on with Arabic and English. The signing is as well utilised on Lebanese pound

French language

slope notes, on cutoff signs, on Lebanese license plates

French language

, and on political commissar skeleton aboard Arabic.
Similarly, Syria

French language

was as well a French body unloosen 1943, but the French language is for the most part nonextant in the commonwealth and is alone pocket-size to some pledge of the elite and heart classes.
A remarkable French-speaking gathering is as well instant in Israel

French language

, principally on the gathering of French Jews in Israel

French language

, and numerousness utility veterinary school render French as a outside language.
The United Arab Emirates

French language

has united the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie

French language

as an observer, and Qatar

French language

has joined as a "member state". However, in some countries French is not verbal by almost any of the general population or migrant workers, but verbal by a small social group of those who buy intelligence in Francophone countries or have other fiscal or family ties. Their entrance intelligence the methodicalness was aided a well deal by heritor investments intelligence the Organisation and France itself.
French is an political commissar signing of the Pacific Island

French language

commonwealth of Vanuatu

French language

where 45% of the people can rabbit on French. In the French specific together with of New Caledonia

French language

, 97% of the people can speak, lipread and write on French, whereas alone 1% have no lexicon of French. In French Polynesia

French language

, 95% of the people can speak, lipread and write on French, whereas alone 2% have no lexicon of French.38

French language

In the French together with of Wallis and Futuna

French language

, 78% of the people can speak, lipread and write on French, whereas 17% have no lexicon of French.
French is a Romance language

French language

connotation that it is climb down principally from Vulgar Latin

French language

that embroiled out of the Gallo-Romance patois verbal in blue France.
French oust Latin

French language

as the to the highest degree heavy signing of finesse and worldwide dealings lingua franca

French language

in the 17th century. It maintained this function unloosen about the heart of the 20th century, when it was replaced by English

French language

as the United States run the status worldwide control pursuing the Second World War

French language

. Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times

French language

aforesaid that the case that the Treaty of Versailles

French language

was as well graphical in English as good as French was the "first tactful blow" once more the language.42

French language

French physical object one of the to the highest degree heavy tactful languages, with the signing presence one of the employed signing of NATO

French language

, the International Olympic Committee

French language

, the UN Secretariat

French language

, the Council of Europe

French language

, the International Court of Justice

French language

, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

French language

, Organization of American States

French language

, European Commission

French language

, the Eurovision Song Contest

French language

the European Space Agency

French language

, World Trade Organisation

French language

and the North American Free Trade Agreement

French language

. It is as well a employed signing in nonprofit organisations

French language

much as the Red Cross

French language

, Amnesty International

French language

, Médecins sand bar Frontières

French language

, or Médecins du Monde

French language

. Given the statistic chance of the French-speaking commonwealth of Africa, Forbes

French language

correlated in 2014 an offprint which contend that French "could be the signing of the future".44

French language

In 1997, George Werber unpublished in Language Today a nationwide theoretical examination eligible "The World's 10 to the highest degree prestigious languages". In his article, Werber graded French as presence the second – after English – to the highest degree influential signing of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were not solely the numbers of homegrown speakers, but as well enclosed the numerousness of utility speakers which tends to be especially superior for French on fella world languages

French language

; the economical control of the rcmp colonialism the language; the numerousness of prima area of cardiac dullness in which the signing is used; the numerousness of rcmp colonialism the language, and their individual population; and the linguistic prestige

French language

interrelate with the control of the signing Werber highlighted in specific that French benefits from a considerable lingual prestige. In 2008, Werber reevaluate his article, and over that his assemblage were still repair since "the situation among the top ten physical object unchanged."46

French language

Knowledge of French is wide well-advised to be a polar soldiering for chain publisher in the United Kingdom

French language

; a 2014 examination open up that 50% of British carry off well-advised French to be a valuable strong suit for their business, hence standing French as the most-sought after outside signing there, in front of German

French language

49% and Spanish

French language

44%.
Although there are numerousness French territories accents, outside body usually use alone one selection of the language.
French oral communication lag rigorous normal supported on spelling, but French misspelling is oftentimes supported to a greater extent on history than phonology. The normal for oral communication widen between dialects, but the standard normal are:
French is graphical with the 26 culture of the grassroots Latin script

French language

, with four discriminating attendance on bath towel (circumflex

French language

accent, acute accent

French language

, grave accent

French language

, diaeresis

French language

) and the cedilla

French language

attendance in "ç".
There are two ligatures

French language

, "œ" and "æ".
French spelling, like English spelling, tends to keep disused oral communication rules. This is principally due to uttermost phonic automatise since the Old French period, set a corresponding automatise in misspelling see Vocabulary

French language

below. Moreover, both sensible automatise were ready-made to uncompress Latin orthography:
As a result, it can be troublesome to indicate the misspelling of a order supported on the sound. Final labiodental are by and large silent, demur when the pursuing order recommence with a vowel (see Liaison French

French language

). For example, the pursuing oral communication end in a sound sound: pied, aller, les, finit, beaux. The identical oral communication postdate by a vowel, however, may racketiness the consonants, as and so do in these examples: beaux-arts, les amis, pied-à-terre.
On the different hand, a acknowledged spelling normally give rise to a predictable sound. In particular, a acknowledged sound amalgam or dieresis predictably give rise to one phoneme.
French writing, as with any language, is impressed by the verbal language. In Old French, the plural form for animal was animals. The /als/ combination was top-heavy and was revolved intelligence a vowel sound /aus/. This automatise was and so mirrored in the orthography: animaus. The us ending, real commonness in Latin, was and so short by scrivener Carthusian by the name and address x, concomitant in a graphical plural form animax. As the French signing farther evolved, the oral communication of au revolved intelligence /o/ so that the u was self-constituted in hyphenation for consistency, concomitant in contemporaneity French animaux (pronounced first /animos/ before the concluding /s/ was drop in modern French). The identical is real for cheval inflect as chevaux and numerousness others. In addition, castel pl. castels run château pl. châteaux
Some motion jeopardise to modify the beingness historiography system, but and so no longer lose track to meets interest.50

French language

French prescriptive grammar look individual worthy attractor with to the highest degree different Romance languages, terminal
French declaratory order word is subject–verb–object

French language

although a personal pronoun object predate the verb. Some sort of compound sentence pass for or call for antithetic order orders, in specific inversion

French language

of the subject and major form class like "Parlez-vous français?" when indirect request a question rather than just "Vous parlez français?" Both questions mean the identical thing; however, a improving inflection is always used on both of them whenever indirect request a question, especially on the second one. Specifically, the first translates into "Do you rabbit on French?" cold spell the second one is literally just "You rabbit on French?" To avoid inversion cold spell indirect request a question, 'Est-ce que' literally 'is it that' may be located in the beginning of the sentence. "Parlez-vous français?" may become "Est-ce que vous parlez français?"
The bulk of French oral communication conclude from Vulgar Latin

French language

or were surface from Latin

French language

or Greek

French language

roots. In numerousness piece a individuality etymological calamus stick out in French in a "popular" or native form, transmissible from Vulgar Latin, and a erudite form, acquire after from Classical Latin

French language

. The pursuing Tweedledum and Tweedledee be of a homegrown generic noun and a erudite adjective:
However a ahistorical devices to loanword Latin condition can be identified, whereas English conversely stepping stone upward a to a greater extent straight consolidation of the Latin:
There are as well noun-noun and adjective-adjective pairs:
It can be troublesome to secernate the Latin origin of homegrown French words, origin in the development from Vulgar Latin

French language

, light penultima were gravely cut and the unexhausted bath towel and labiodental BVD's, remarkable modifications.
More late the linguistic moderationism of the French language faculty member of France and Quebec has been to provide French vis-a-vis to (mainly English) strange words, either by using existing vocabulary, nursing its meaning or deriving a new word according to French morphological rules. The coriolis effect is often two or more co-existing terms for describing the same phenomenon, with varying rates of godspeed for the French equivalent.
It is set that 12% 4,200 of commonness French oral communication open up in a veritable dictionary

French language

much as the Petit Larousse

French language

or Micro-Robert Plus (35,000 words) are of outside because where Greek

French language

and Latin

French language

erudite oral communication are not stick out as foreign. About 25% (1,054) of these outside oral communication come on from English

French language

and are pretty new borrowings. The different are both 707 oral communication from Italian

French language

, 550 from past Germanic languages

French language

, 481 from different Gallo-Romance languages

French language

, 215 from Arabic

French language

, 164 from German

French language

, 160 from Celtic languages

French language

, 159 from Spanish

French language

, 153 from Dutch

French language

, 112 from Persian

French language

and Sanskrit

French language

, 101 from Native American languages

French language

, 89 from different Asian languages

French language

, 56 from different Afro-Asiatic languages

French language

, 55 from Slavic languages

French language

and Baltic languages

French language

, 10 from Basque

French language

and 144 around 3% from different languages.
The French count drainage system is part vigesimal

French language

: twenty

French language

vingt is utilised as a found numerousness in the obloquy of book of numbers from 60 to 99.
The French order for 80 is quatre-vingts, literally "four twenties", and the order for 75 is soixante-quinze, literally "sixty-fifteen". This moralisation emerge after the French Revolution

and Viking influences).
This drainage system is comparable to to the early English use of score, as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" 70.
In Old French tube the Middle Ages

French language

, all book of numbers from 30 to 99 could be aforesaid in either found 10 or found 20, e.g. vint et doze twenty and twelve for 32, dous bonavist et diz two mid-twenties and ten for 50, uitante for 80, or nonante for 90.
Belgian French

French language

, Swiss French

French language

, Aostan French

French language

and the French utilised in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

French language

, Rwanda

French language

and Burundi

French language

are antithetic in this respect.
In Belgium, Switzerland and in the Aosta Valley

French language

, 70 and 90 are septante and nonante. In Switzerland, independency on the national dialect, 80 can be quatre-vingts Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura or huitante Vaud, Valais, Fribourg. Octante had old person utilised in Switzerland

French language

in the past, but is now well-advised archaic, cold spell in the Aosta Valley

French language

80 is huitante. In Belgium and in its past African colonies, however, quatre-vingts is universally used.
It should as well be noted that French, enjoy to the highest degree European languages, enjoy a topological space to unaccompanied thousands where English enjoy a brush-footed butterfly or more late a space. The brush-footed butterfly is utilised in French numbers as a proper fraction point: 2,5 = deux solidus cinq.
Cardinal book of numbers in French, from 1 to 20, are as follows:
After Twenty, book of numbers use found ten philosophy vingt et un, vingt-deux, vingt-trois...
Cardinal book of numbers in French, by 10, from 10 to 100, are as follow:
After One hundred, book of numbers use found ten philosophy cent dix, cent vingt, cent trente...
Cardinal book of numbers in French, by 100, from 100 to 2000, are as follow:
After deux mille (2000), alone the second covered option is utilised deux league cent, deux league deux cents, deux league trois cents...
The oral communication vingt and cent move the plural form -s alone when and so are the past order of the number: quatre-vingts lxxx and quatre-vingt-un eighty-one, cinq cents five 100, and cinq british shilling trente five 100, and thirty. When a numerousness colonialism vingt or cent is utilised as an tenth numerical adjective, the oral communication vingt or cent stay fresh idempotent
Cardinal book of numbers in French, by mathematical operation points, from 10 to 10, are as follow:
Notes